iPhone 5 A6 Processor - Neither Cortex A9 nor A15

Oh that's hot!

Now I want it even more as with the speculated A15 (which was the must have feature for me)

I wonder how this chip is going to compare to the A15. Surely Apple saw significant benefits with going with a fully custom chip, rather than going with the A15, whether these benefits are merely in terms of power consumption remains to be seen.

Interesting.

Thank you for reporting actual news.

This is huge! This will be on the front page soon if its not already.

Well, that's certainly fun. Can't wait to get my A6 powered iPhone 5 in my hands and play with it. Even more so I can't wait until some devs start taking real advantage of that extra processing power.

Where does leave ARM by the way? Do Apple still need to pay them licence fees if they're using a totally custom chip?

Tom8 said:

Where does leave ARM by the way? Do Apple still need to pay them licence fees if they're using a totally custom chip?

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They are still licensing ARM architecture, so yes.

KPOM said:

Yes. As the article explains, there are two kinds of licenses. You can license a specific architecture, or a general design to make your own. Apple has both kinds of licenses.

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Orien said:

They are still licensing ARM architecture, so yes.

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Yeah i saw that part of the article, but i wasn't really very clear on it.

So when/if Apple moves all iOS devices to custom chips, they'll only need to pay the "General design" licence? Or will they still have to pay because they are using ARMs instruction set?

I'd like to know how this compares with A15.

zbarvian said:

I'd like to know how this compares with A15.

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I think you will have to wait until a SoC with the A15 comes out. Qualcomm has their Krait architecture in some equipment, but it is, is Anand is right (a fair assumption), a custom implementation of parts of the A15 like the A6. Otherwise, everyone else still has A9 cores in their high end products.

dgreene196 said:

I think you will have to wait until a SoC with the A15 comes out. Qualcomm has their Krait architecture in some equipment, but it is, is Anand is right (a fair assumption), a custom implementation of parts of the A15 like the A6. Otherwise, everyone else still has A9 cores in their high end products.

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I'd like to see how this compares to Krait, actually. I'm glad Apple is taking up the silicon business, but I'm incredulous about their chops at the moment.

Hopefully more people see this. Maybe it'll shut up some of the haters out there.

sounds amazing

AnandTech is tech journalism at its finest. Hats off to them!

2x faster with 4G and longer battery life... Hats off to Apple for that.

I can't wait to see how fast and smooth the new iphone is.

HAH no wonder Samsung's being a sourpuss with its ads now.

So where does that leave the people who said they would only buy the iPhone 5 if it was A15 based?

This will probably destroy the Galaxy S3's processor.

maxwelltech said:

This will probably destroy the Galaxy S3's processor.

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wait..HOw! the S3 is the next big thing!!

Damn that's some smart thinking. This is exactly why apple products work so well, together and by themselves
Apple just keeps on improving this process

This is the ultimate vindication of having total control of software and hardware. What was once ridiculed by Bill Gates and others and has since allowed Apple to tower over Intel and Microsoft, is now going to allow Apple to leverage ever more power and versatility from their products.

As other companies become more dilute Apple becomes more focussed and concentrated.

iEnvy said:

Hopefully more people see this. Maybe it'll shut up some of the haters out there.

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You are a glass half full kinda person!

Haters gotta hate.

Honestly, I can't wait to see how this compares and that will allow a apples to apples comparison of "real world" usefulness vs. other phones and the 4S.